Fierce fighting in the Middle East between Israel and Hamas, which began hours after Friday’s cease-fire began, has killed at least 62 Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers. Editorial cartoonist Joe Heller says innocents in the region are stuck “between a rocket and a crawl space,” while Mike Luckovich has a prescription for the situation.

For more cartoons on fighting in the Middle East, check out the slideshow below.

U.S. Secretary of State is in Jerusalem this week, seeking a cease-fire to stop the deadly fighting between Israel and Hamas. Editorial cartoonist Mike Luckovich suggests there’s a “two-state solution” currently in place, while Nate Beeler depicts the discovery of another tunnel being used by the Palestinians.

In the latest round of tension and violence in the Mideast, Israel and Hamas continue to launch rockets into each other’s territories, following the recent abduction and killing of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank and a 16-year-old Palestinian in East Jerusalem. Editorial cartoonist Nate Beeler says there’s one thing the two sides agree on, while Joe Heller uses a popular American song to illustrate the situation.

John Kerry touched a nerve last week when he suggested the Middle East may end up with “apartheid” if Israel and the Palestinians can’t agree on a two-state solution. Editorial cartoonist Nate Beeler says Kerry’s comments poured fuel on a combustible situation, while Mike Luckovich says those who were outraged are in two states of mind.

Supporters of Iranian presidential candidate Saeed Jalili, Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, pictured on posters, attend a campaign rally in Tehran, Iran,May 24. Jalili, who is running in next month’s presidential elections says he will promote a policy of resistance against the West if elected. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Alireza NaderForeign Policy

1. “Iran is an irrational actor”

Wrong.

It’s as clear as day that the Islamic Republic pursues goals in the Middle East that put it on a collision course with the United States. Iran is opposed to Israel as a Jewish state, for instance, and competes for regional influence with the conservative Gulf Arab monarchies. But that doesn’t mean it is irrational: On the contrary, its top leadership, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is deliberative and calculating. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s antics and often wild rhetoric shouldn’t obscure the fact that the Islamic Republic is interested in its own survival above all else. When contemplating the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran, we should all be grateful that notions of martyrdom and apocalyptic beliefs don’t have a significant pull on Iranian decision-making.

Iran’s possible pursuit of nuclear weapons capability is motivated by deterrence, not some messianic effort to bring about the end times. The Islamic Republic has a relatively weak conventional military that is no match for U.S. and most Western forces — most of its regular naval and ground forces operate equipment from the 1960s and 1970s. It has tried to make up for this through a doctrine of asymmetry: It has supported terrorist and insurgent groups across the Middle East and created a “guerrilla” navy, which — at best — might be able to swarm U.S. ships and interrupt shipping in the Persian Gulf. This is all meant to prevent U.S.-driven regime change.Read more…

When George W. Bush took over the White House in 2001, he stated that the administration would carry forward a hands-off policy in regard to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. He indicated that if Israel and the Palestinians wanted to work toward peace, it was up to them, and the U.S. would not get involved.

Now, almost seven years later, Bush thinks that diplomacy might be the way to go. Had he taken this step when he entered office, we might not be involved in an ongoing war in the Middle East that is threatening to expand to Iran. And Israel and its neighbors might not have taken up arms against each other, causing much death and destruction. Read more…

There has never been a better actor occupying the White House than George W. Bush. He will do anything for a photo oppurtunity. This push for peace in the Middle East is a joke. This man should have done something the minute he took office about the problems that are going on there, but he set his sights on another little scheme, Iraq.

Bush puts Ronald Reagan to shame. Former Vice President Al Gore won an Oscar for his movie on global warming; perhaps the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences should give a “special” award to this president for “Best Way to Create Diversions.”

Tim Flynn hit the nail right on the head. The really sad part of this whole debate is that we even have to debate torture. This country has totally lost its moral compass. Just the fact that we are debating this issue shows that. Just the fact that Attorney General Michael Mukasey had to sit there and weasel his way around terms and methods of torture shows that we have lost our ability to distinguish right from wrong anymore. Read more…

Letter-writer Sam Savant, like many laymen, misunderstands the problems with nuclear waste. This is a political problem, not a technical problem. We only need to recycle the fuel rods to reuse the nuclear material, grind the remainder, mix it with molten glass and spread it on the desert floor in the Nevada test site, where thousands of acres are already contaminated from the many nuclear tests conducted there. Read more…

The Post’s front-page article concerning the play about Rachel Corrie and her ultimate death in Gaza (being crushed by an Israeli bulldozer) is very revealing. I fail to understand how we, as a nation, can operate on the assumption that every Islamist attack on the United States of America, since they began in the ’60s, has nothing to do with the state of Israel. Read more…

Vincent Carroll is The Denver Post's editorial page editor. He has been writing commentary on politics and public policy in Colorado since 1982 and was originally with the Rocky Mountain News, where he was also editor of the editorial pages until that newspaper gave up the ghost in 2009.

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To reach the Denver Post editorial page by phone: 303-954-1331

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